Making a Difference: April 2020 highlights

Employees across Michigan Medicine continue to make a difference and inspire colleagues through their hard work and dedication. Recognizing the contributions employees make to the organization helps the team to become more motivated, drives better teamwork and gives each individual a sense that they are an integral part of achieving organizational goals.

Here are just a few examples of how faculty and staff helped Michigan Medicine provide exceptional care and service this month:

Peer recognition

Jenna Ray, physician assistant, interventional radiology

Jenna has routinely delivered above expectations when it comes to her patients. On a weekly basis this occurs behind-the-scenes with thoughtful evaluations of patients and extensive consult notes. While Jenna deserves recognition for her unwavering dedication to patient care in general, recently she took the additional step of ensuring delivery of equipment to a patient so that they could avoid exposure to the health system during COVID-19. Jenna has repeatedly proven dedication to her patients above and beyond the call of duty. Please continue this dedication, Jenna!

Mary Masson, director, Department of Communication

Mary deserves credit for leading the Hospital Command Center communication team in a stellar way, providing critically-important and timely information to our workforce on a daily basis. Simultaneously, she is managing dozens of media requests per week, while leading her team’s efforts to produce extraordinary content! Mary, your work ethic, positive attitude and incredible expertise make you an invaluable part of Michigan Medicine and a joy to work with. You are appreciated!

Michael Duran, lead MRI tech, radiology

Mike has been such an awesome leader during this pandemic. He often volunteers to be the person to help COVID-positive patients, which means a number of his teammates are not at risk of being exposed. He goes above and beyond to protect the night-shift staff and to provide excellent patient care. I am proud to work with him every day!

Monica Morton, patient transporter, Logistics

Recently, we had a patient who had a very, very difficult morning. In the past, this patient has frequently required restraints during transport due to her aggressive behavior. However, when Monica arrived, she suggested that we play music she had heard the patient enjoy before. She knew the song the patient liked, and even sang along, which comforted the patient enough to help her calmly and safely be transported to her treatment area. Thank you, Monica, for your hard work and dedication to providing the most excellent patient care.

Octavia Jones, entrance service attendant

Octavia went above her job duties to help get meals to the families in our NICU. As I picked up a donation of lunches on the curbside, my cart tipped over and Octavia, along with two other entrance services workers, came to my rescue and immediately helped me to recover. She offered to help me walk the meals to our unit so I could make sure the families got their lunches. That’s what I call teamwork! Thank you and way to go, Octavia! Keep up the great customer service. You helped to make to make a lot of people smile when they received their lunch.

Mariha Julies-Whitsett and Phillip Johnson, custodians, Environmental Services

We have been incredibly busy on the Labor and Delivery floor. We asked difficult things of Phil and Mariha (like changing out curtains immediately) to protect our patients and the two of them continue to astound. Not one negative thing was said nor was there any negative body language, but our requests were met with “not a problem” and a smile. These two are exceptional people and we are so grateful to have them working on our team!

Patients and family to staff

Noelle Reed, R.N., 9E/W

Essentially, I had a previously difficult delivery at U-M, so I was particularly anxious about the birth of my son. With my latest delivery, I had influenza and pneumonia prior to my delivery. Noelle was incredibly supportive in the midst of my not feeling well and not being able to have the support of my doula that I was counting on. She advocated for me, ensured communication was clear and kept me laughing despite my fears/anxieties. My son had a pretty difficult start, but Noelle ensured I got to spend time with my son. She didn’t leave my side and went above and beyond the call of duty for the duration of her shift. I couldn’t have done it without her encouragement. Quite simply, I’m just so pleased that I work for an organization with a nurse like Noelle!

Kelli Marino, R.N., 5D Surgical ICU

For the past 20 days, my mother has been on a ventilator due to COVID-19. It’s been an incredibly difficult time for our family, particularly since we haven’t been able to be there with her. The entire unit has been wonderful, but Kelli has stood out. She kept us well-informed, helped us to FaceTime with our mother and never seemed inconvenienced by our questions. I know how stressful these times are right now, but Kelli never showed that in our interactions. She made us feel as if our mother wasn’t in this alone. My family is truly grateful that she was a part of my mom’s healing process.

Click here to nominate a colleague or team who makes a difference at Michigan Medicine!